Games for younger children suggestions please!

Tropez

This is a sister thread to my thread over on the Families board. See here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4735605 if you're interested in the backstory (not that interesting).

Basically just looking for Xbox 360 (although some PC games may also be suitable, preferably if they're on Steam and cheap) that are suitable for either (or all) a 13 year old girl, 11 year old girl and an 8 year old boy.

Looking through my games collection, aside from some sports games and a few racers, everything is wholly unsuitable.

Plan on popping to the pre-owned indie stores tomorrow so being armed with a list would be spiffing!

Thanks in advance.

The_One_Who

Super Meat Boy - Fiendishly difficult platformer with that 'just one more go' appeal. Available on XBox Live Arcade/Steam.

I really enjoy the Trine series, it's such a pretty game. Again, available on Steam.

As for games that you can buy in stores, the Lego games immediately spring to mind. They range from Harry Potter, to Batman, to Star Wars, so probably one to suit all tastes.

If they like RPGs then there are games like Skyrim which should be suitable. Or maybe Minecraft, but it's much better on the PC.

To be honest, most of the games aimed at kids will be aimed at a younger audience than yours, and are almost universally rubbish! But at the end of the day it will be up to you to decide what is suitable for your children. I was playing games that were not "age-appropriate", but I knew they were just video games.

DCFC79

Ok, these are games for age range 7+

these are for age range 12+.

I can't suggest any but am trying to think of some, only ones I can think of are the Lego games, Hary Potter games and portal 1.

Skyrim is a 15 so didnt suggest it.

Tropez

The_One_Who wrote: »

Super Meat Boy - Fiendishly difficult platformer with that 'just one more go' appeal. Available on XBox Live Arcade/Steam.

I really enjoy the Trine series, it's such a pretty game. Again, available on Steam.

As for games that you can buy in stores, the Lego games immediately spring to mind. They range from Harry Potter, to Batman, to Star Wars, so probably one to suit all tastes.

If they like RPGs then there are games like Skyrim which should be suitable. Or maybe Minecraft, but it's much better on the PC.

To be honest, most of the games aimed at kids will be aimed at a younger audience than yours, and are almost universally rubbish! But at the end of the day it will be up to you to decide what is suitable for your children. I was playing games that were not "age-appropriate", but I knew they were just video games.

Thanks. They're not my children - partner's cousin's kids - which is why I'm not really sure what there is that's suitable. My game library includes Red Dead Redemption, Dead Rising, Mass Effect series, Tomb Raider etc. and all of them seem quite inappropriate, although maybe some of the older Tomb Raider games like Legend would be okay... been a while since I've played it but don't recall anything overly violent. I don't know these kids so I can't really speak for their maturity. I too was playing games and watching films that had higher age certificates when I was a kid, but like you, I was mature enough for them.

I'm basically trying to play it safe. If their mum says it is okay for them to play a particular game that's fine but I don't really want them arriving here and not being able to play anything (if they want to use the Xbox/PC of course) because of my more adult tastes.

DCFC79 wrote: »

Ok, these are games for age range 7+

these are for age range 12+.

I can't suggest any but am trying to think of some, only ones I can think of are the Lego games, Hary Potter games and portal 1.

Skyrim is a 15 so didnt suggest it.

Thanks, I shall have a perusal of those lists. Nice to see some user ratings with decent numbers of ratings to give an indication too.

The_One_Who

Tropez wrote: »

Thanks. They're not my children - partner's cousin's kids - which is why I'm not really sure what there is that's suitable. My game library includes Red Dead Redemption, Dead Rising, Mass Effect series, Tomb Raider etc. and all of them seem quite inappropriate, although maybe some of the older Tomb Raider games like Legend would be okay... been a while since I've played it but don't recall anything overly violent. I don't know these kids so I can't really speak for their maturity. I too was playing games and watching films that had higher age certificates when I was a kid, but like you, I was mature enough for them.

I'm basically trying to play it safe. If their mum says it is okay for them to play a particular game that's fine but I don't really want them arriving here and not being able to play anything (if they want to use the Xbox/PC of course) because of my more adult tastes.

As far as I'm aware Super Meat Boy doesn't have an age rating. It's got cartoon violence - red 'blood' where your little square-of-meat-character dies, and he will die. I wouldn't say it was unsuitable.

The Trine games have none of that. It's a platform-puzzle game, and is gorgeous. It's not the longest of games though.

Minecraft can be more creative, but again all violence is cartoon-y.

Tropez

The_One_Who wrote: »

As far as I'm aware Super Meat Boy doesn't have an age rating. It's got cartoon violence - red 'blood' where your little square-of-meat-character dies, and he will die. I wouldn't say it was unsuitable.

The Trine games have none of that. It's a platform-puzzle game, and is gorgeous. It's not the longest of games though.

Minecraft can be more creative, but again all violence is cartoon-y.

Yeah, I've seen some of the stuff you can do in Minecraft. The graphics look too poor to take seriously anyway, although some of the stuff people have designed is quite incredible, regardless of graphical limitations. Someone I know designed an entire mansion with electricity and secret rooms.

Thanks for the suggestions, I shall investigate

fozzeh

Brave.

Enjoyed it a lot for the trophies...more than I should have!

Flyonthewall

As already said, the lego games. They're all great.

Viva Pinata is a great game too (probably more so for girls). You can breed the pinatas, but it doesn't show anything dodgy whatsoever. Very colourful game.

The Sims are on console as well as PC. Basically any sim based PC game should be fine such as Sim City (personally I think the older versions are better and you can pick them up cheap) or pets games like dogz or catz. Never played them PC pet games, but they have pretty good reviews on amazon and kids generally like cute animals lol.

Any games based on kids films too. The golden compass and Legend of the guardians are cheap games. Probably not the best games, but the kids might enjoy them especially if they really like the films they're based on.

Tropez

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I shall investigate my options.

vyle

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Any games based on kids films too. The golden compass and Legend of the guardians are cheap games. Probably not the best games, but the kids might enjoy them especially if they really like the films they're based on.

Hell no! Most are cynical cash ins that insult the intelligence of the kids, lack any depth or quality control and are usually based off of far better games. Avoid licensed games like the plague... Except the lego games which are merely competent but get a pass on that basis at least.

jayjay88

Would something like the Sims be a good option? Or the Sim city games (although the latest one has some issues and you would need to get it from origin rather than steam)